Posts Tagged ‘corruption’
Monday, September 6th, 2010
Dear Friends,
It seems to me, how can the government hold me to my word when they publicly don’t hold our highest office holders to theirs?
Everyone knows the example of Clinton and Lewinski. Regardless of what was lied about the fact is there was a lie said under oath and it was publicly known. More importantly the negative consequences amounted to a slap on the wrist. So if the President of the United States can lie under oath and have no real consequences then why should other far less important people bend the truth to serve their self interest?
In Vermont a Judge was caught with 35 marijuana plants and 2LBS of processed marijuana. The judge served no jail time, paid no fine, instead got diversion. Less then a year later 2 college students were caught with 2LBS of processed marijuana and the book was thrown at them. The Prosecutor made the statement that an example would be made of them.
Tim Giethner who is in charge of US Treasury was caught not paying income taxes. To the tune of not reporting over 100K dollars. No negative consequences were deemed appropriate. He simply paid the back taxes. No other years were looked into. Charlie Rangel is accused of not reporting hundreds of thousands of dollars over decades. Lets sit back and see what negative consequences are levied against one of the most powerful men in the Congress.
Today the government is hiring thousands of IRS agents to look into your income tax records. They want to make sure you are not chiseling a few dollars here or there. If a discrepancy is found you will be punished, fined and punitive interest levied.
We can clearly see from these very few examples the tip of a much larger iceberg in society. That is the Elite need a peaceful society to enjoy their power in. But they themselves want to live as Thrasymachus claimed. They don’t want to live to the laws they seek to force the rest of society to live up to. So with this fundamental tension going on they must resort to ever more punitive measures to keep the populace in line.
Right out of Confucius. He pointed out this very problem 2500 years ago. But being Confucius he also pointed out the cause and the solution. Ancient Chinese Philosophers were all about causality and the chain of causality.
Confucius pointed out that Dukes and Barons in his day lived by rapine and averous. They lusted and fulfilled those lusts. Yet detested their very own actions when they saw them in others. As did Tonnies. They were and are hypocrites. But that hypocrisy is not lost on the population.
When the people see their leaders lusting after money, luxury and sex they naturally lust after these things themselves. But when all people behave as Dukes and Barons who have no respect for the persons, property or family of others societal advantages break down and society collapses. There is no longer a stable society for the Elite to enjoy their power and wealth.
So the Elite must resort to some means to keep the population virtuous. The answer is always in increasing punitive measures. In fact I believe there is a correlation to the level of punishment meted out in society for infractions to the level of corruption in the upper ranks of that society.
Confucius answer too this intractable problem was as elegant as it was simple. Eliminate the fundamental tension. That is to force the Dukes and Barons to be as virtuous as they need the population to be.
Simple, elegant and next to impossible to do…
Tags: baron, confucius, corruption, duke, elite, government, incentive, International Capitalist Party, rational maximiser, Sophistry
Posted in Law, Mercy, philosophy, polictics of class envy | No Comments »
Thursday, August 12th, 2010
Dear Friends,
It seems to me that In all matters it is best if government use incentives instead of regulation. Incentives work universally. Regulation is bypassed universally.
Take the new banking regulation. While I haven’t read the 2000+ page bill I am no less ignorant of it than most (If not all) the people who voted for it. It seeks to move power to the Fed to regulate certain actions. But it is no different than the SEC. Remember the SEC who’s employees were looking at porn while the banking system burned? I have heard (on Bloomberg radio) the SEC as the most captured unit of government.
Industry capture is always an omnipresent pernicious force. It undermines the people’s trust in fairness of the financial system lowering GDP growth. Regulators, consciously or subconsciously, start to believe that their job is protecting the companies or industry they oversee, (an example of normalizing deviance), not protecting the consumer. This capture is especially prevalent where companies have access to huge amounts of capital and legal resources. They over awe the people who are tasked with keeping them honest.
But if the incentives are set up thoughtfully… I heard an excellent idea the other day. Unfortunately I don’t remember who said it but it was on Bloomberg Radio. He said that if banks or institutions grow beyond a certain size the amount of capital reserves would have to grow at a faster pace. Thus reducing the incentive to grow out of proportion. Basically like a transmission in a car.
In a transmission the ratio between the engine speed and the drive shaft speed changes given the gear ratio. In his idea the capital needed to be tied up unproductively as M1 money would change as the capital size of the corporation changed. An incentive like this would make growing too big to fail too expensive. The amount of capital needed to grow would make it more productive to spin off a division to handle a new opportunity. Reducing the risk to society if the new (or old) company fails.
Today there is no personal risk to management if a company were to fail that was too big to fail. The government would certainly step in to rescue them. In fact that in itself is a pernicious incentive to grow to be too big to fail. Once your company is too big to fail it will have a tacit free safety net. The precedent has been set on numerous occasions.
Regulation is always full of pernicious incentives. They are inevitable when extremely complex transactions are regulated. No person or group is omniscient. There will always be pernicious incentives when activity is regulated. No matter the activity.
The wise lawmaker keeps the law simple and thinks it through. A few years ago there was a spike in falls from aerial lift vehicles in the USA. The spike lasted a few months and the companies that were involved addressed the situation. (People not wearing their fall protection devices or lanyards). The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) stepped in.
They did millions of dollars of taxpayer funded research and decided that the answer was to shorten the length of the lanyard and increase the fine to companies that didn‘t comply. The fine was the same whether the wrong lanyard was worn or not at all. The incentive for the person using the aerial lift vehicle was not to use the new shorter lanyards because they are far more restrictive. So the incentives the new rules set up were pernicious. They undermined the solution to the actual problem. Which was, people not wearing their lanyards while operating aerial lift vehicles. The result was lower productivity from the employees, higher operating costs to implement the new rules, (buying the new equipment) and I bet not one more lanyard was connected than had been done after the companies involved had addressed the situation in house.
Results are irrelevant when government is involved. It is good intentions that counts. Regulation that produce the worsening of a situation requires more government intervention. It’s obvious. If the result of the new government intervention make things even worse, then it requires a cabinet post in the Executive branch…
Government’s ineptitude and outright corruption coupled with good intentions always result in more government. Regulation is simply the road to it…
Tags: banking system, corruption, economy, elite, government, incentive, incentives, intentions, International Capitalist Party, politicians, porn, regulation, SEC, sophist, Sophistry
Posted in Law, economy, philosophy | No Comments »
Sunday, August 8th, 2010
Dear Friends,
It seems to me that If the nations of the world are stupid enough to give taxation rights to the UN they do not deserve to exist as nations… and soon will not.
Once the UN has the right to tax individuals in sovereign nations then the governments of those nations become redundant. The services and functions can be easily moved to the higher level of government. The power that the UN will gain will be an even more corrupting force on them.
The UN is already profoundly corrupt. To it’s core. The putrefaction drips from it’s every word. From the self serving Ban Ki Moon to the corrupt Kofi Annan the UN is a entity that exists to perpetuate the power of the corrupt Elite.
But why shouldn’t they be utterly corrupt? There is no oversight of them. They are not held to any standard of personal action. The list of infractions that UN diplomats have committed are enormous. They have been let off Scot free on the most heinous of charges. Diplomatic immunity.
To fight global warming is the reason given to tax us. Then the UN can pass climate legislation that will slow economic progress for the rest of our lives. Regulation that will require ever more taxation to enforce. Increasing the power of the bureaucrats at the UN. The Elite will argue that it is redundant for nation states to exist. The UN can handle the world’s problems. It only needs more money and more power.
For the UN to seize power under the guise of a hoax is elegant. Those that seek to lower the lot of Mankind have at their disposal a perfect hoax. Global warming. They are using it to move sovereignty from the individual in some States and the nation state in others to a world state. World tyranny.
They defend manmade global warming like a religion. Because it is. Like the cigarette companies defending the healthy aspects of cigarette smoking. The fact that there are none is irrelevant. It is the same to global warming proponents. Self interest whether individualist or egoist trumps community interests. Look at the money trail. Who wants your money and to do they what to do with it.
To them the dishonorable means of gaining the world state is acceptable because the ends are so good. They honestly believe that the philosophical progress made in the last few centuries is a bad thing. They believe that the masses are living outside their station in life. Like the precedes of the modern Elite (aristocracy) arguing that such luxuries as sewing needles are too much for the average person to have. It only makes them want more.
Once government is moved farther away from the people it governs the less responsive it is to their concerns. Like all bureaucracy government has great moment of inertia. That moment of inertia protects the bureaucrats from having to actually do anything. They are busy all the time but accomplish nothing.
Because if government solved a problem there would be less need of government. It is not in bureaucrat’s interests to solve problems. It is in their interests to create problems for them to fix. The larger the government the greater the propensity.
The larger goal is to take capital from those that would use it to produce an ever expanding standard of living for the people of the world and squander it by redistributing it. Government projects and lavish vacations for the Elite will be commonplace . Bureaucrats will find more and more uses for money they did not earn. Don’t have the intelligence to earn, but have the hubris to want to control.
If this passes, the lot of the average person in the world will go down but, the lot of the Elite will go up… dramatically. If you think it is a good idea to lower your standard of living so the elite can raise theirs you simply have to back this proposal. But if you think that merit has some standing in the way money is spent you are adamantly against this proposal.
Either way the Elite back it one hundred percent. They are self interested. Does that make them individualists or egoists?
Tags: climate, corruption, economy, elite, government, incentive, International Capitalist Party, meritocracy, progressive, Sophistry, tax, tyranny, UN
Posted in International Power, Law, Mercy, economy, philosophy | No Comments »
Thursday, July 29th, 2010
Dear Friends,
It seems to me that when a millionaire ten times over says he or she will hurt the rich and help me… I know I am being lied to. Because for a rich person to hurt the rich violates human nature. They would have to hurt themselves. No one hurts themselves… No one. Unless they are mentally deranged. I hope not many of our lawmakers are mentally deranged… but their actions an the other hand…
John Kerry is a perfect example. He went to New Zealand to buy a 7 million dollar yacht. (Apparently he doesn’t like union workers in Massachusetts). Then he moored it in Rhode Island to avoid paying the five hundred thousand dollar sales tax bill and the seventy thousand dollar a year excise (luxury) tax, (that Kerry supports). Here is an example of a man who claims to help the poor by hurting the rich. I.e. Raising taxes on the rich. Apparently he doesn’t believe himself rich… People who have exponentially less money then him are rich. Their taxes are going up. But the billionaire is not.
The best part of this story is that a reporter asked Kerry; if he docked the boat in Massachusetts would he have to pay the Massachusetts tax then. Kerry responded, “It depends on who owns the boat.” [A very rare example of honesty in a lawgiver.]
The premise of this statement is that some people are subject to taxation and others are not. I ask you… What incentive does this set up in society? Where the people who set tax law are not held to that law? Is it likely, self interested, human beings will keep tax law fair if they are not subject to it? Of course not.
It is not human nature to hold the interests of others as high as one hold’s his or her own. In this instance Hsun Ching is correct that the congenital nature of Man is evil… Self centered. Philosophies that hold human nature to be wrong and force whatever the Elite believe, today, is “virtue” are flawed. To have at the core of a philosophy of ruling people a premise that is diametrically opposed to human nature is like building a gasoline motor and trying to run water in it. It is flawed. Not the motor… or the water… just that they will not work together.
Over and over we have examples of why people cannot self police yet we staunchly believe that the Elite will violate human nature. I.e. be un-self-interested. Even when we have grievous examples like the one above before us many say; “so what.” To them tomorrow is a white fog. Impossible to predict and mysterious as a Stephen King novel. I dare say too many people are of this persuasion. When the fruit of their nonchalance is visited on them they will lament that it was unforeseeable.
“How could this possibly have happened? I voted for the same people over and over but things never got better. They only got worse and worse.” is the lament of the willfully ignorant.
Another sophist argument that I hear and am dumbfounded at is that I personally have it ok now so why worry about the future. To make this argument and believe it a person must live in a one dimensional world. A point in time with no past no future, and no other possibilities then what is.
I love the way de Tocqueville called American individualism as opposed to egoism; “The doctrine of self interest rightly understood.” What a beautiful way to explain the truly civilized person. Someone who understands that sometimes we have to subordinate immediate gratification for long term gratification. To understand that self interest is intricately tied to societal interest. And that safe streets are in our own best interests. Of course the progressives are working to undermine this character trait in the American ethos.
The Elite are not held to the law in most places and times on the Earth. Their self interest need not be rightly understood. If they are not subject to a law will they give it the same scrutiny that they would if they were subject to it?
The modern Elite (progressives) seek to change people from individualists to egoists. Then the egoists will willingly forge the chains for the Elite and even bind themselves with them. Egoism is stupid self interest. It requires that one not think critically about our leaders. An egoist lives in a singularity. Egoism makes a person think a job flipping burgers is beneath him but being on the public dole is honorable. An egoist believes that the world owes him or her. An egoist calls another greedy because he doesn’t want to give more of his hard earned money to the lazy egoist but the egoist will scream like a scalded cat if a dollar of his money is missing.
By the way… did you hear about Barney Frank flipping out over not getting a senior citizens discount that he was not entitled to?
It cost him an extra dollar for the ride.
Tags: corruption, de Tocqueville, egoism, elite, evil, government, Hsun Ching, incentive, individualism, International Capitalist Party, Law, marx, progressive, socialist, sophist
Posted in Group Politics, Law, Mercy, philosophy | No Comments »
Sunday, July 18th, 2010
Dear Friends,
It seems to me that the time of the progressives, socialists and communists is coming to a close. With the wide dissemination of the internet and the dramatically enhanced access to information it offers people will increasingly be lifted from the ignorance enforced by the progressives, socialists and communists. Light will shine on their philosophy.
Today the power of that faction appears to be at it’s apex. The US is controlled almost exclusively by progressives. The President and both houses of Congress have sizable majorities of progressives. Most are democrat but some are republican. The Supreme Court is at the tipping point. A few more hard leftists and the job will be done there too.
But the power of progressives, socialists and communists lays in ignorance. Not of reading writing or arithmetic but in history, economics and current events. These are the ideas that undermine progressivism. People who have not been steeped in the tea of communism and the “benefits” to mankind that it offers see the world differently.
We have our eyes open. We are pragmatic not dogmatic. Progressives, socialists and communists are dogmatic. Even as they point the finger of dogmatism at every one who disagrees with them. But they fail to see their own dogmatism.
To follow a political philosophy that has at it’s core the fact that when it gains control millions of people will have to be murdered to “protect” the revolution requires quite a bit of faith. Those egoists, people who refuse to follow the tenets of social justice and communal salvation, will have to go. They have all done it. From Vladimir Ulanoff to Pol Pot. Moreover they will always to do it when ever they get power. It is ignorance of this fact that feeds the left. Ignorance of the atrocities that they have done and pledge to do if they ever get power.
But the ignorance that feeds progressivism, communism and socialism doesn’t stop there. Every modern event must be couched in just the right terms and in the right way. Until recently the progressives have controlled the unbiased media. The have controlled the horizontal, the vertical, they have controlled what we have seen. Welcome to the outer reaches of the progressive limits. (There are none).
US collages have a plurality of progressive, socialist and communist professors. They aim at convincing every student to follow their pernicious philosophy. The fact that most don’t is a testament to common sense. But it is also a testament to the power of knowledge. Those who know the history of progressivism in the US and it’s ties to Fascist socialism will recognize the parallels today. People who understand the difference between rhetoric and truth will see through the veil of half truths the unbiased media place in front of us. Folks that have access to the information to dull the blade of ignorance are less liable to be misled. Too many of us will refuse to sit in the cave and watch pretty shadows dance on the wall.
That is why it is imperative the progressive, communists and socialists control the internet. They must keep us ignorant, angry and dependent. Their power depend on it. The Elite that run the show on the left know this. If people knew the truth they would loose their power in a heart beat.
Fortunately people are waking up. The actions of the progressives are enlightening the people to the reality of who they are. The mask has been lifted a little. It should be totally removed. Then the people would recoil in horror at who they have voted for and supported in the past.
When that happens the progressives will have breathed their last breath, The socialists will have disheartened the last soul and the tyranny of communism will evaporate from the Earth. All this good from one thing… Light shining on reality.
Didn’t someone else say that evil grows in darkness and withers in the light?
Tags: capitalist, communist, constitution, corruption, education, elite, evil, good, government, group, information, International Capitalist Party, internet, light of truth, Socrates
Posted in Group Politics, International Power, media, philosophy | No Comments »
Thursday, June 17th, 2010
Dear Friends,
It seems to me that people judge others by themselves. The best template we have to place others in is the one we ourselves have forged… And it is the one we know best.
That is why a thief is the most afraid of being stolen from. A liar always believes everyone is lying to them and an adulterer always is the most afraid of having someone cheat on them. It is in our nature. We all have faults and we project them on others.
That is one of the reasons that the uber rich are progressive if not actually communists. They believe that everyone is as heartless as they are. To them it is impossible to believe that another person would do a virtuous thing. Then turn around and do another. There has to be a catch. They themselves always have a hook. Basically they are the avatar of the man Thrasymachus and Nietzsche believed in.
Like Nietzsche’s book The Will to Power. (A dark book that chills the soul to read). Nietzsche is smart enough to know the tribulations en route and the end of the road that he proposes. Yet he goes ahead and proposes it. The path and the end is chaos. A state of perpetual war… man against man. Victory to the cleverest, strongest or most political. Mankind would very quickly shed the accoutrements that are given to us by our social nature. Like housing, ready access to food, transportation, heated homes, etc…
People of this ilk often become extremely rich. But not all extremely rich people are of this ilk, i.e. sociopaths. The ones that are however have the ability to sow much mischief in the world. Placing all mankind in the same box as themselves they can only see total government to curb mankind’s total greed. They have no concept that others have no desire for riches beyond what makes them comfortable. Beyond that to make one comfortable further riches only serve to gain more security. But at an acceleratingly diminishing rate of return. At some point the wealthy Neitzchian would get a better return, (in improvement in his or her lot in life), by investing it in science research. The security and improvement in the standard of living would accrue to him as well as society. And could possibly lengthen his or her life span.
What about Power? The ultimate goal of the self centered. Power rover others. Power to coerce action at another’s expense simply for the satisfaction of some whim. Like old king Di Xin, he, reportedly, had a pool filled with wine and ruled by his whim… Once Caesar and some friends were riding past a small filthy French town. His friends said to Caesar, “How would you like to live in such a wretched place?” To which Caesar replied, “I would rather rule there that serve in Rome.” Later Caesar overturned the Republican system that had served Rome well for most of a millennium.
If this is the template that you judge others by… Isn’t your view going to be skewed? If I am a self centered despot in waiting… I will think everyone else is too. When I get power I will gear my input on law to reflect my view of humanity. (Based on myself).
These are the Elite. The ten percent of any group that will take control. (The dross floats to the top). Rarely is someone put into power who did not seek it. Numa Pompey is the only one who comes to mind. (And that tale is probably more myth than reality). So When almost everyone who writes law is an utterly self centered, despot in waiting, is it hard to explain why we have law that is always written with an eye to serve some faction?
Lately every law, that is written and passed in the USA, is expressly for a faction against the overall good. Take the “Health Care overhaul”. It has as it’s purpose to redistribute wealth. From those that have health care to those that don’t. The actual reason the people don’t have it is never addressed. Except a background hum that they are poor. (The poor already had healthcare under Medicaid). Reality was never allowed into the debate.
The result will be much higher cost of healthcare for every American. Lower standard of care for normal Americans. A higher rate of structural unemployment… Among other negative effects. The Elite however will have no diminishments in their health care. They have a separate system. The rest of us are forced into the government “choices” by law. The Elite are not.
With Elitist theory, as I have explained, we can clearly see why…
But, I am told, there is no need of a NUMA.
Tags: caesar, capitalist, corruption, elite, elitist theory, group, health care, human nature, International Capitalist Party, Judge Others, Law, ourselves, sophist, Sophistry, Thrasymachus
Posted in Group Politics, Law, Mercy, philosophy | No Comments »
Thursday, June 10th, 2010
Dear Friends,
It seems to me that when a nation pretends a crime was not committed by a leader because it would have to act… puts that nation in great peril.
If a powerful political leader was to commit a crime. Clearly and obviously… Like bribing another politician with a position in government for some favor. This is obviously not in the public good. Clearly it is (or should be) a violation of law. And it undermines the concept of meritocracy in government. Then that politician should be treated as the law requires.
To let that politician get away with some lame excuse like they are ignorant of the law or everyone does it is to guarantee that laws will be broken in the future with greater harm to the body politic.
To argue that the politician is ignorant of the law and thus cannot be held to it makes a mockery of law. If the person who writes the law and enacts the law cannot know it. And therefore cannot be held to it. How much more unfair is it to hold the average citizen to it? If the law is so complex and arcane that a lawgiver cannot know it then it is impossible for a citizen to know it. How then do you hold citizens to law they cannot know? Try playing a game where your opponent knows the rules but you don’t. Now don’t even hold them to the rules you know… how would that turn out?
To argue that everyone does it is to argue that everyone is corrupt. If that is the case society has profound problems. But no one who uses this argument, in government, ever gives examples. If they did then the other politicians would be prosecuted. Like a gang of drug dealers. If one is caught… would he get away with saying… “everyone does it.” If he did give examples, the drug enforcement unit will swoop down, and arrest them. But the first would still face prosecution. Why is it that we expect more from drug dealers than we do our leaders?
Some argue, “well, you have the vote.” Assuming the people in question actually have suffrage and it is fairly counted. So using an analogy, if a baseball player has a contract that expires every three years. He commits some crime in his first year. The team has the option, in three years, to fire him? Does that make sense to you? Again, in this case, we hold our leaders to a lower standard that we do someone who chases a ball around a field for a living.
When people in power misuse their power. We all suffer. But how much more egregious when a politician abuses his power in public? With no negative consequences?
So, given the profound negative impact of not holding our leaders to the law. Law that we are held to. Why do we withhold consequences from the actions of our leaders? Because we personally know our leaders. We may not actually have met them but we know them personally. We voted for them. We might have pounded pavement for them. We have sunk cost in them. So we have empathy for them…. Empathy that is not shared. For every act of mercy visited on a leader ten million acts of injustice are visited on the people.
Look at Tarquinius Superbus. Despite his arbitrary evils he was exiled not executed. In fact even in exile he visited evil on Rome. But still lived. The pattern has been repeated through history.
Shouldn’t we finally put a stop to it?
Or have we remained motionless in three thousand years… and are happy to remain?
Tags: corruption, education, elite, evil, good, government, International Capitalist Party, meritocracy, Superbus, tyranny
Posted in Law, Mercy, philosophy, polictics of class envy | No Comments »
Sunday, May 23rd, 2010
Dear Friends,
It seems to me that Felipe Calderon should be deeply embarrassed. To be the head of a government that has done such a poor job that people want to leave in droves. Fleeing the violence, poverty and government corruption. A human hearted man would be ashamed…
But Calderon is not. He is unabashed. In fact, he even has the gall to go to the nation that is feeding, clothing, housing and otherwise providing for his citizens, and chastising it. Chastising it for not being friendly enough. This guy is the stereotypical hypocrite.
The laws against illegal immigration in Mexico are draconian. The laws regarding legal immigration are draconian as well. Add to this the utter corruption in the Mexican police force. Immigrants cannot receive welfare in Mexico. Especially illegal immigrants. Immigrants in Mexico have to have outside income or be employed by the Mexican state. They are not allowed to have jobs in Mexico.
The US media have been rife with stories about older people going into Mexico to buy prescription drugs. (That were prescribed to them). After the pharmacist sells the US citizen the drugs the pharmacist then calls the police. The police intercept the old folks. Arrest them. Then ransom them back to their children.
The total lack of opportunity in Mexico is directly related to the utterly corrupt and (fortunately less) socialistically inclined government. One example of the foolishness is that the Mexican government has nationalized all it’s oil. The Government run extraction company is extraordinarily inefficient. The ready access to oil money funds more corruption in the Mexican government.
Had the Mexican government went the capitalist route a (possibly Mexican) company would lease the land from the government to extract the oil. The company would be held responsible for environmental problems. The company would be responsible for cleaning up after the oil has been extracted and the company would be responsible to keep the infrastructure up to date. Another advantage of the capitalistic approach would have been better and more thorough geological research. More importantly… less money would be underground to contribute to governmental corruption.
The violence in Mexico is the result of the utter corruption in the Mexican government. Even as Calderon pointed his finger at the US for problems his government has created he disregarded the three fingers pointing back at him.
Put it this way… If the easy access to weapons in the US leads to violence in it’s neighbors… why is Canada so quiet? If keeping drugs illegal creates violence in neighboring countries… Why is Canada so quiet? Huge amounts of Marijuana come into the US from Canada.
So is the problem really somewhere else Mr. Caldron? Or is it closer to home?
Tags: capitalist, corruption, economy, elite, Filipe Calderon, government, incentive, International Capitalist Party, jobs, Mexico, politicians, poverty, redistribution, welfare
Posted in International Power, Mercy, Societal Myth, economy, media, philosophy, polictics of class envy | No Comments »
Thursday, May 20th, 2010
Dear Friends,
It seems to me that government’s propensity to normalize deviancy threatens us all. Due to Government’s ability to deliver catastrophe on a society.
Normative deviancy is a sociological term that describes why some groups make catastrophically wrong decisions. It is a theory that takes into account the environment in which a decision is made. Basically, When a group of people are set up there is usually some thought put into keeping complexity low, keeping connections loose, ensuring rigorous debate, etc… but as time goes on small deviations become the norm. Then small deviations become larger then become the new norm. Until catastrophic failure of the group or decision-making process takes place. Catastrophic failure becomes inevitable.
The group could be the House of Representatives. Some of the deviations we see. (that have apparently become the norm) are, not reading bills before voting on them, protecting members that take bribes, reacting before sufficient facts are in, and putting a faction’s good over the good of society. These are not all the examples I can come up with but the list becomes tedious.
Not reading bills before voting. How could this ever go wrong? No potential for catastrophic failure of the decision making process there…
But seriously, lawmakers don’t even read ten page bills before voting. This has great potential to be used against an unwary congressman or congresswoman. People vote for a person because they believe that that person will make good decisions regarding government. How can a person make a decision about a bill they have not read?
When a lawmaker is so sloppy, about his job that they don’t read bills they are voting on, it says they don’t take their job seriously. When people see that the leaders in society don’t take their jobs seriously when their jobs are so important, lawmakers pay is over $174000 a year, with benefits better than anything in the private sector, so if a congressman has so little regard that he doesn’t even take the minimum effort in doing his job… why should we? Imagine the subconscious pernicious incentive this is to society… on top of the potential for abuse of the system.
Protecting members that take bribes, sexually bother pages and aides, are ignorant of tax law, ship horses through the US mail calling it official business, cashing in postal vouchers for cash to buy drugs, drunk driving leaving the scene of the accident death resulting, the list is endless. With this caliber of people running our government how can we go wrong? Blackmail is only one of the potential problems that could lead to catastrophic decisions that could result.
Jumping to conclusions before all the relevant data is in. Some examples are when rep. John Murtha, (God rest his soul), Accused the US Marines of war crimes. The facts came out that the US Marines were innocent. But the damage had been done. The war effort had been undermined. President Obama even acknowledged that he didn’t know the facts then attacked a police officer. Again wrong. Over and over members of our government publicly make statements without sufficient knowledge to make them. Over and over they are proven wrong. How many of you have read of heard the story of the Little Boy Who Cried Wolf? Being wrong over and over undermines one’s credibility. When it is an elected member of the government it undermines the credibility of the government.
Putting the good of a faction of society over the good of all of society. This is not a new problem. Madison wrote about it in the Federalist Papers, #10. Faction is pernicious because it is necessary for the political process. But even as the power of faction impels political power it undermines that power by corrupting it. Often putting the good of a faction of society over the good of all society is in the political interest of a party. Like illegal immigration. Everyone knows in their heart what is right. (fix immigration law to reflect the need, seal the boarder to prevent more illegal immigration and enforce the law) But every one in the political process wants to game the system. They want to reap the political favor of a potentially large faction. So the interests of society are stepped on. The result is that human beings in the USA are treated as subhuman… to enhance the political power of the Elite that are courting them. No irony there.
The private sector goes to great lengths to prevent these types of things from occurring. Perhaps because the threat of jail is ever present in the private sector but is totally absent the government. That problem is answered by the NUMA… Perhaps because the private sector must succeed or fail. (Unless it is politically favored. Then the taxpayers will bail them out. Even as the lawmakers, in the back pockets of those firms, vilify them… I think I hear Braer Rabbit, “Please don’t throw me in that briar patch.”)
Another possibility is that the dross floats to the top.
Tags: Catastrophic Desisions, congressman, congressman's pay, congresswoman, constitution, corruption, desision theory, evil, good, incentive, International Capitalist Party, Law, lawmaker, normalizing deviancy, normative deviancy, pernicious, pernicious incentive
Posted in Group Politics, International Power, Law, Mercy, economy, media, philosophy | No Comments »
Sunday, September 6th, 2009
Dear Friends,
It seems to me that Mexico is having a real problem with violent crime. Everywhere you look there is some report or news article about heads being rolled into a disco, the bodies of policemen found mutilated, etc… We are told it is largely due to organized crime that is funded by drug money.
The more I think of it the less credibility this theory has. The level of crime that is attributed to organized crime is off the chart. Presumably the crime bosses have huge haciendas that they live in. It wouldn’t be terribly hard to surround the one one of the bosses is staying in with police. Then ask to talk to the boss. With the level of crime and violence they are involved with shooting will almost certainly start. Then the government has criminal acts committed in front of the police, IE, shooting at police. That there are no arrests made of the bosses cries out that the government is involved.
How much of the government? Quite a bit I would speculate. With the violence and atrocious acts committed and so little effective action taken on the part of the government the involvement must be pretty high. The US has sent millions and millions of dollars to fight crime in Mexico. The Mexican army has been fielded to carry out operations against the crime bosses… but there is no movement. The crime bosses seem to be winning. This would only be possible if elements of the government are involved with the crime bosses.
This level of corruption bodes poorly for the people of Mexico. They have seen their real wealth drop since 1900 dramatically. (Along with the rest of Latin America). People in the US should be buying things from Mexico… not from China. Not because China is bad but because of the proximity to Mexico. Why is the stuff that requires a lot of man hours of labor, thus requiring low wages, made in China not Mexico?
Two main reasons. Corruption in government and ease of doing business. What business man in his or her right mind would open a factory in Mexico now? When traveling to the plant you would have to have an corps of security guards to keep you from being kidnapped. Your workers would be subject to violence and kidnappings lowering their productivity. Lastly you never know in Latin America if another Hugo Chavez will come to power and nationalize, steal, your new factory before it has paid for itself.
So, despite it’s proximity to the largest market on Earth and a free trade pact with the US, Mexico is faltering. The government has too many corrupt elements. Like a wasp with nematodes crawling from it before it dies we are watching the death of a country.
It doesn’t need happen. Mexico could enact the NUMA. Mexico is teeming with good people. They could be tapped to start a NUMA. Stomp out corruption in government in Mexico and see how fast violent crime from organized crime disappears. Clean up the government and watch the economy ignite. Allow the people of Mexico to be free of terror and be startled at the productivity gains. In short Mexico has but one real problem… The rest stem from it.
Tags: corruption, Mexico, organized crime
Posted in Mercy | 1 Comment »